Thursday, March 29, 2007

Meet my new best friend

This is Neti, and she is my new best friend these days.

She came into my life on the dark hours of last Monday night. I was suffering from some serious sinus pressure. Yarn Hog has made the extremely helpful comment about her hubby's use of a Water Pik with a special nasal irrigator attachment to get all of the gunk out of his head. I was desperate and so sent Bill to Fred Meyer in search of this glorious thing. He came back with the Water Pik but, sadly, no nasal irrigator attachment was anywhere to be found (I'm going to have to mail-order it, which will not help us with this round of colds but will definitely help with the next). We tried to rig something up, but unfortunately without a good seal around the nostril, sticking a Water Pik up your nose and turning it on is a good way to get yourself soaking wet without having any effect whatsoever on your sinuses.

Neti to the rescue! I'd never heard of a Neti pot until George & Ruth's fight about the storage of his Neti on Six Feet Under. But last year during cold season, I discovered that several of my friends are staunch Neti advocates. I don't know why it took me so long, but I sent Bill back out to the store to get me a Neti pot before my head literally exploded off my neck. Apparently the secret is out, because he had to go to a couple different places to actually find one in stock.

Now, I've been spending ten minutes in the bathroom a couple times a day, sending saltwater in through one nostril and out the other. It took true desperation for me to try something like this, because I hate getting water up my nose more than just about anything. But this doesn't hurt at all - it's amazing! It loosens everything up and dislodges that junk that just won't come out for Kleenex alone. And now, for fear that I've truly disgusted you beyond belief, I'll end with this - when you're plugged beyond belief and all else fails, try a Neti. One caveat - you do need to take a decongestant or something before you use the Neti pot because it won't work if you're completely plugged. There has to be a path for the water to take or it'll just run down the back of your throat (or it won't go anywhere at all). This is where I think the Water Pik and a little pressure behind the stream might work well. I can report back once we've got the needed attachment and plugged sinuses to try it out on...

On a less-gross note, I've found a new little obsession.

I've had this page-a-day Origami calendar sitting around and finally managed to crack it open. Let me tell you, this stuff's addictive! Here's a close-up of some of my little creations:

The calendar is great because it builds from day to day so you develop the skills you need to make more and more complicated things. Each page is on nice origami paper with a colored back, so you use the previous day's page to make the next day's project. It's awesome! I'm still on January, so I've got a lot of folding to do to catch up. I can't wait to see what we get to at the end of the year! I need to find a shelf or something to hold all my little creatures. I can't let Owen anywhere near them or they end up looking like this:

I think that was some sort of bird at one point, but who can tell for sure? That boy is a mangler!

Now I am off to work on my final Pam Allen-selected project, for Holiday Gifts '07. Guess what - it's a pair of socks. What a surprise! Thanks for all of you who made such nice comments about the baby chicken fiasco. I've gotten multiple e-mails from the My Pet Chicken people - they feel so terrible! They are swearing up and down that the next box of chicks will be happy and healthy, but I'm still asking everyone to keep their fingers crossed for us (and the chicks) next Monday & Tuesday when the new shipment is sent out. Let's hope that heater works this time!!!

You know, I started to suggest something like that. I've never done it, but Brian tends to get sinus infections and the like, and he says irrigation helps so much (he just uses the baby nose bulb). Glad you found the Neti pot, though--sounds like it's working! :)

Very interesting! I've never heard of a Neti pot and it makes perfect sense to me after reading your post. I'll have to look for one although I rarely get sinus infections anymore thanks to allergy shots.

OMG I lost some coffee when I read "but unfortunately without a good seal around the nostril, sticking a Water Pik up your nose and turning it on is a good way to get yourself soaking wet without having any effect whatsoever on your sinuses."

I've been using a neti pot for a couple of years and it's made a drastic difference in my sinus health. New Seasons usually has plenty of them. Glad you got some relief!

p.s. what are you going to do with the chickens? When I was a teenager we hatched a bunch of chicks in an incubator and quickly discovered that they don't stay cute and small for very long. I have never forgotten the stench of those critters. Hope your new chicks come through okay!

Go Neti Pot! I had a doctor (a "real" physician, an MD!) recommend I try it out when I got several bad sinus infections in a row that turned into URIs this winter (of course, post-nasal drip, don't you know - the result is not pretty, or pleasant). There was very little he could give me, since the infections were not bacterial. I was skeptical too, what with the whole "sending salt water up your nose" aspect of it. But it totally works, and is not at all uncomfortable! The first time you use it it is a bit odd because you are sending warm salt water through your sinus cavities (something that you probably will have never purposely done before) but it totally works to loosen all that gunk up and lets you blow it all out! (Nice visual, I know.)

About Me

Welcome to the wild & wooly world of knitwear designer Chrissy Gardiner. I'm a mom of two who spends as much time as possible knitting and designing knitting patterns. I have been published in various books and magazines as well as printing my own pattern line, Gardiner Yarn Works. I published my first book, Toe-Up!, in the summer of 2009. It's about socks, of course!